Mic Check: 5 Magazine Covers So Controversial They Required Apologies

1.Rolling Stone angers with “Boston Bomber” coverRolling Stone posted the cover to its Aug. 3 issue on Facebook on Wednesday, and their readers didn’t like what they saw. The cover features a photo of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with the blurb “How a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam, and became a monster.” Boston Mayor Thomas Manino said the cover “rewards a terrorist with celebrity treatment.” However, the editors of Rolling Stone are standing by their decision: “The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism…,” they said in a statement. Race studies Professor David Leonard wonders if the response to the cover was influenced by Tsarnaev’s religion. He says magazine covers featuring other mass killers haven’t provoked the same response.

2. New York to see lower Obamacare rates New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that individuals buying health insurance in New York will pay at least 50% less next year, thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Supporters of the law say the ACA lowers rates by creating competition between insurance providers. New York becomes the fifth state to report lower-than-expected rates under the ACA. It’s a much needed win for the healthcare overhaul: The Obama administration recently postponed the rollout of a key provision of the ACA, and the House just voted to delay other parts of the bill.

3. School lunches kill Indian children At least 22 Indian children died on Wednesday in the eastern state of Bihar after eating contaminated school lunches. The lunches were provided as part of India’s Midday Meal Scheme, a huge program that offers free meals to over 120 million children. Parents led protests in the streets of Dharmasati following the deaths of the children. It is suspected the meal the children ate was stored in containers that previously held pesticides. The BBC’s Soutik Biswas worries the tragedy will unfairly cast doubt on the school meal program: Economists say the Midday Meal Scheme has been a success, for the most part.

4. Nelson Mandela turns 95 Former South African leader Nelson Mandela will celebrate his 95th birthday today in a Pretoria hospital, while countries around the world celebrate the fourth annual Mandela Day. South African President Jacob Zuma visited Mandela in the hospital, and said he was healthy enough to smile in response a birthday greeting. The government is encouraging South Africans to celebrate Mandela Day by performing 67 minutes of charitable acts, while New York is displaying a large image of Mandela in Times Square. Mandela’s daughter says his health is improving; she hopes he will return home soon.

5. CA prison protesters punished. Lawyers who represent inmates at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison say 14 inmates who are leading protests at the prison have been put in solitary confinement and stripped of their legal papers. The punishment is part of an effort to crackdown on protests that have taken place throughout the California prison system since July 8. 2,312 California prisoners are taking part in a hunger strike, and 271 are refusing to go to work and classes. Prisoner authorities have revoked protest leaders’ visiting privileges at the Corcoran state prison.